The sorry state of Open Defecation
One might think that when a country is independent since 68 years, it's conditions would have increased pretty much. But sadly, that's not the case with India!
I am writing this from my own experience, so you can have my word for the fact I have stated above. Bangalore has been home to me and my family long before I was born. My Grandparents and major part of my family live in a village close to Lucknow, my hometown. Thanks to the limited travel facilities available, as a child, I got to see little of my Parent's hometown. But what I did get to see still remains engraved in my mind.
Those were the times when electricity was as alien to villagers as were cellphones. Ten years back, during a visit to my Grand parents, I got to learn a lot as a child.
I remember how happy I was when Dad told us we were going to visit Amma and Abba, my young mind was all set for adventures.
The tedious journey started with spending three days(yup, you read it right) travelling in train. It was a sea of new experiences for me...
Those three days were the most enthralling yet difficult days of my life. A girl-from-the-town had just entered in the alien world of a village!
It started right from Jhansi... The never ending stings and stinks of defecation, on nearly every railway line the train travelled!
When the train got closer to Northern India, we were treated with the heartwarming sights of never ending farms and the sad sight of them being ruined by hundreds of children defecating in their shadows.... staring at the passing train while they did it!
Then, when we finally reached our village, the condition only increased. There was not a single road on which you could travel and not find poo! Sick, i know!
I and my siblings were like "Chii! Mummy dekhiye nange punge bacche kokku karrai hain" (See Mumma, naked children are peeing and defecting in the open without shame) but turned out it was considered normal there!
You could find the highest rate of defecation on long roads connecting villages. The travellers, lightened their stomachs in the farms in these roads due to unavailability of inhabitants.
That was ten years back. Has it changed now? Well...NO!
My family has already made a couple of visits since then, and during my recent visit, which was last year, I found that this was still the sorry state of the village! A little improvement yes, but not enough, definitely not enough!
Now, dear readers, please humour me if you would even consider eating food which has been a victim of human defecation! In my eyes, nothing is more unhygienic and well...yuck!
Not only villages, i have seen people defecate liquids on the humble streets of towns too. Bangalore is definitely improving though, every mile you cross, you find a public toilet(let's not take into account how awful it smells) but still, you can see the youth peeing and leaving their souvenirs on public walls, which is a very sad condition!
Thanks to Domex, who has come up with this wonderful initiative of freeing villages from 'open defecation', I can see hope and loads of improvement on the way! Hopefully, next time I visit my village, it will be stink free and open defecation free!
You can bring about the change in the lives of millions of kids living in villages, thereby showing your support for this wonderful Domex Initiative. All you need to do is “click” on the “Contribute Tab” on www.domex.in and Domex will contribute Rs.5 on your behalf to eradicate open defecation.
This is a post for Indi-happy hours campaign.
